The Pain and the Gifted
by Metalstar
Summary: Kioshi the Treeko's partner is upset about losing Grovyle so he decides to fix it. PMD2 Story. Origionally ment to be a one-shot but an idea formed in my head and it's turning into a story XD Rating may change but I doubt it. Spoilers for PMD2  T/D/S


I grasped the tiny bag in my hands as a walked through the bustling Treasure Town. My team mate, Shizuko, wasn't feeling too well, so I had been exploring on my own and decided to buy some Pecha Berries and White Gummies to help her get better. Oran Berries were better for healing but Siân always said she liked Pecha Berries better because of their sweet taste.

I smiled, remembering our first nights at the Guild. We would sneak out after dinner on the full moon and sit on the beach, marvelling at the view we had seen so many times that always stayed as beautiful as ever. We would share a Pecha Berry and an Apple between us and gaze across the silver-blue sea. I wasn't really a fan of Pecha Berries, they're much too sweet, but I never told Shizuko that. She liked the idea of eating a Pecha berry and an Apple at the same time to make the Apple sweeter, and so did I. Of course, we had graduated from the guild a long time ago and since there was no real thrill of sneaking out and back in without getting caught, we never really did it anymore.

I sighed, snapping out of my memories and continuing to head for our home at Sharpedo Bluff. I had lived in the hidden hollow of the shark-shaped cliff before joining the guild and it felt like only yesterday when moved back in, it had actally been some months ago. It felt weird being back there after so long, but it was better than having my ears blown off every morning by a tubby purple Loudred.

I waved to my long-time friend Spoink as he passed by. He was the reason for our first mission at the guild in which we had to find the pearl he had lost. At first, I was mad at having to do such a boring job but I ended up enjoying it, and we made a friend too.

Spoink was wiser than I first thought, (Losing a gigantic pearl from your head doesn't give you a very good first impression) it turned out that he could give us the best advice when we needed it. He also gave me the idea to eat a Chesto Berry every morning so that I would stay alert throughout the day. Yes, I owed a lot to Spoink, though Shizuko didn't. She would always come up with her own ideas and say that she could have come up with the ideas that Spoink had.

Thinking of my partner jolted me out of my memories once again. '_I get way too distracted. Like Shizuko did on our first few adventures'. _I remembered whenever we went out exploring, she would sometimes stop and daydream.

I slapped my forehead in frustration, earning some weird looks from some of the towns Pokemon. '_I'm doing it again!' _I sighed. '_Maybe I'll go to the beach later for a think'. _I always liked sitting on the beach at sunset, becoming lost in the many memories I had cooped up somewhere in my head.

Before I could go off into another daydream, I hurried off to the Bluff, almost tripping over the bag that I was accidentally dragging across the floor. '_I hope I haven't damaged the food…' _I thought, miserably, trying to watch where I was going.

As I speed-walked through the town, I crossed the bridge and I stopped when I realised that team AWD was completely blocking the way. I clenched my fists in frustration. The three-pokemon bandit team were always too cocky for their own good and, although I really didn't want to hear their reason's not to move, I just wanted to get home.

I pulled the pocket-sized bag over my shoulder and walked calmly towards the group. The Arbok, who looked bored out of his mind, looked up to the sound of my footsteps. I was surprised that even though he had no visible ears, the cobra pokemon could hear so well, unless it was because Weavile was too busy trying to get the Kekleon brothers to sell her a Black Gummi for half price and Drapion was just plain deaf.

"What do YOU want?" He growled, adding a hiss at the end of his sentence.

"I WANT to go home," I retorted. "But you and your team are blocking the way." I bit back an insult, team AWD were much more sensitive than they looked and would fight if you called them something even as harmless as 'silly'.

"Say Pleasssse," Arbok hissed, raising his head and grinning. I gritted my teeth, glaring at him.

"Get out of the way, PLEASE." I was tempted to do an impression of him, but once again, my common sense told me not to pick a fight with this guy.

"Arbok," Weavile's growl interrupted his response. "What are you doing?"

"Nothhhing!" Arbok replied, with as much innocence as he could muster, which was hard for a giant poisonous snake.

Weavile tore her gaze from her team mate and looked down at me. Surprise lit her icy eyes.

"Well hello there, Kioshi." She said, surprisingly polite for a dark type.

I met her gaze with shock, wondering what to say.

After about a year of silence, the Weavile whipped around to face the Keckleon brothers, fury taking over her once calm look.

"Fine then," She hissed. "If you will not sell us items for a less ridiculous price then we will not buy here again! Your business will crumble if we are not buying, since we buy more here than anyone else."

"No you don't," The purple brother said. "You never buy anything since you're always demanding lower prices."

Weavile growled at the shopkeepers in an unspoken threat, as if to save herself from having to answer when she didn't know what to say.

"Come on Team." She hissed, marching away with the Poison types following. As she passed me, she gave me a farewell nod and left.

I heard the green Keckleon brother muttering something about how weird that Team was and the purple brother rolled his eyes.

"Do you need anything, Kioshi?" He asked, without much effort considering I had only been there a few hours ago to buy some berries and gummies.

I would have liked to say yes so that he didn't have to get the answer he already knew he'd get. I felt a bit selfish for wasting his time so I shook my head and muttered a 'thanks', before continuing my walk.

At dawn I had gone to explore Lake Afar with a Noctowl who had introduced me to the dungeon he had found but didn't want to explore alone. When I had got back I quickly checked up on Shizuko and went to the Keckleon Shop to buy her some food before going to visit the guild. It was now sunset and I was surprised that it had been so long before I spent a day without my trusted partner. I was so used to having the cream-coloured fur next to me at all times that I never really wondered what it would be like without her. Today had proved that I could manage on my own, but I was incredibly bored the whole time. I didn't like the idea of exploring solo all the time; we could get much more done as a team.

Just then, I realised that I could have brought one of our recruited members with me to explore, especially since Flake the Magby needed some training. We had recently gotten an egg from a Pikachu we rescued from Steam Cave which, in the hands of Chansey, hatched into Magby who we nicknamed Flake, since his belly and 'beak' were as white as a snowflake.

I groaned angrily and slapped my forehead again, gaining more weird stares. '_Well, it's too late now'. _I told myself. '_Right now I should get back to Shizuko'._

I carried on walking through the town, dragging my feet on the ground and lifting the bag up whenever it fell from my shoulder. As I was busy trying to fix the rope of the bag so that it wouldn't fall, I almost stepped on a fluffy black tail.

"Hey, watch it!" I heard a gruff voice growl. It sounded so familiar and I looked up to see a Mightyena with a mock-angry expression on his face.

"Hiya," He said, in a more calm tone. "I haven't seen you in a while. How is Shizuko?"

I noticed that there were two Poochyena sitting next to him, who I knew very well.

"Hey, it's Team Pooch," I gasped, distracted from the question. "Where's the other Poochyena?"

The Mightyena laughed, thankfully not offended that I had ignored his question.

"I'm here."

I took a step back, taking a good look at the powerful Mightyena. He had certainly changed a lot, but I noticed the X-shaped scar on his forehead. I remembered the time when he strode into Treasure Town, telling the story of how he brought an outlaw Salamence to justice, earning the scar in the fight.

"I evolved!" He grinned, showing off a mouthful of pearly-white, thorn sharp teeth.

The word 'evolved' brought me to remember mine and Shizuko's graduation test. There was a spring at the end of Mystifying Forest, where they were sent to explore. Our friend Teddiursa had evolved into Ursaring there, though me and Shizuko were not allowed to, or, not able to. According to the mysterious voice, something to do with a distortion of space was preventing our evolution. I had never really thought about it, our team hadn't been to Mystifying Forest since the graduation test, which was ages ago.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, once again, and turned to Mightyena.

"Shizuko's fine," I said, answering his previous question. "She's a bit ill though, so she's taken a break."

"Oh poor Shizuko," Mightyena said with a concerned look on his face. "Do you think she would mind if we visited sometime?"

At first, I was shocked at the question. Dark types usually had a selfish nature (I learned that especially from Weavile.) but then I started wondering what Shizuko would think of a giant wolf turning up for a visit. '_He only wants to help.' _I decided, finally.

"Sure, she'll appreciate the company." The grey and black wolf wagged his tail happily like the runt of a litter, finally trusted to do something important.

"Great! We'll stop by tomorrow at around midday."

I nodded, I'd be exploring at midday, and my partner would probably be bored out of her mind. I knew she'd probably say she was better tomorrow, but from her current state, she wouldn't be well enough.

I was brought back to my senses (Yet again) by the setting sun changing the sky a beautiful pink.

"Uh oh, it's getting late," I said, not to anyone in particular. "I'd better get back home, see you later." I nodded to Team Pooch, briefly wondering if they would stay with their name now that one of their members was a Mightyena.

'_I honestly need to get this distraction thing sorted out'. _I thought, hurrying along past the bushes leading to the bluff.

When I got there, I was surprised to see Shizuko sitting on the edge of the bluff, staring out into the sea which was sparkling in the setting sunlight. I was scared at the fact that my friend could fall off the edge and plummet into the harsh waves of the sea, which she could not swim in, but then I shook off the idea, knowing that my partner wasn't that clumsy.

Shizuko was a Meowth who, unlike some other Meowth, preferred to walk on all fours. She also had a colour-changing gem on her forehead that changed colour with her moods. This was something I especially admired about her, it was as if she wasn't afraid of her feelings, unlike me who hated my feelings and never shared them with anyone.

I stood, watching her for a while, wondering what she was doing when I suddenly heard her crying.

I was about to run over and ask her what was wrong, when I heard her saying something. I leaned in closer, trying to hear and be quiet at the same time. She wouldn't be pleased if she caught me spying.

Shizuko's shoulders were hunched and she had her head in her paws. Her once sparkly gem was now deep blue with sorrow – it was so dark that it was almost black. She looked up at the moon, the moonlight shining in her eyes.

"Grovyle...," She whispered. "I'm so sorry…"

Understanding hit me like a rock. Grovyle had helped us to fix time and stop the planets paralysis about a year ago; he had saved us from Dusknoir and disappeared due to him being from the future. At first, Shizuko seemed to fully understand Grovyle's fate and never said much about it apart from giving him a few words on our way to Temporal Tower on the Rainbow Stoneship.

'_She must have finally realised he's gone forever…' _I thought, sadly. _'It never occurred to me that she thought he might come back.' _

I instantly felt bad for not seeing she felt this way earlier as I backed away from the cliff and back into treasure town. _'I'll give her some time alone…' _I thought, turning around and heading through the town.

I walked through the quieting town, the shops were closing for the night and the Pokemon were heading home. I was glad that there was no one out to ask me why I was out so late, but I decided to ask them the same if anyone even bothered, I didn't want to tell anyone that my partner needed time alone, they'd just get too concerned and go and see her anyway.

I sighed, passing the Keckleon shop made me think of food and got me hungry, but I couldn't eat Shizuko's food. White Gummies weren't exactly my favourite snack. I shuffled around the pouch-like bag, looking for any change. I knew we had some Sitrus Berries (My favourite berries) in storage, but it was closed and they didn't sell them at the Keckleon Market.

I pulled out 50 Poke and walked up to the shop. The green Keckleon was the only one there and he was pulling things down he looked up as I leaned on the desk.

"Hi Kioshi, we were just closing for the night. Do you need anything?"

"What berries do you have left?"

"I'm afraid we only have two Oran Berries. Was there a particular berry you wanted?"

"No not really," I sighed. "I'll just take one Oran Berry."

He handed me the berry and I gave him the Poke. I nibbled the Oran Berry on my way to the beach, trying to make it last. I kicked up the white sand as I walked onto the beach. The sun had already set but the scene was beautiful either way, the sky and the sea were similar shades of deep blue with mirrored white sparkles contrasting to the dark colours.

I sat down, resting my head on my knees and gazed out at the endless waves. As I looked up I saw Shizuko still sitting alone on the edge of Sharpedo Bluff. I watched as a sparkling tear dropped into the calming waves. She was truly upset and her sorrow made me feel the same. I never really thought that my friend would miss Grovyle so much; she hadn't gotten to know him very much until a little while after he saved us from Dusknoir. She probably felt bad about not remembering him since he had been her best friend before she came to the past and got amnesia.

As Shizuko got up and went back to the hollow part of the cliff, I clenched my hands into fists and glared at the white sands.

'_I have to fix this.' _I thought determinedly. _'And I know just how to do it.'_


End file.
